A field experiment was conducted during kharif season of 2012 on calcareous soil to study the effect of 4 levels of nitrogen and 3 levels of phosphorus on yield and yield attributes of maize in South Saurastra. N (60, 80, 100 and 120 kg ha-1 ) and P (40, 50 and 60 kg P2O5 ha1 ) with twelve treatment combinations tested in factorial randomized block design with three replications.
Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(3): xx-xx International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume Number (2017) pp xx-xx Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.603.221 Effect of Nitrogen and Phosphorus on Yield and Yield Attributes of Maize in South Saurashtra, India B Pal2, D.S Hirpara1, V.D Vora1*, P.D Vekaria1, G.S Sutaria1, K.N Akbari1 and H.P Verma1 Main Dry Farming Research Station, Junagadh Agricultural University, Targhadia -360 003, Gujarat, India Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh- 362001, Gujarat, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Keywords Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Yield, Yield attributes, Maize, Economics, Growth Article Info Accepted: 24 February 2017 Available Online: 10 March 2017 A field experiment was conducted during kharif season of 2012 on calcareous soil to study the effect of levels of nitrogen and levels of phosphorus on yield and yield attributes of maize in South Saurastra N (60, 80, 100 and 120 kg -1) and P (40, 50 and 60 kg P 2O5 ha1 ) with twelve treatment combinations tested in factorial randomized block design with three replications Results indicated that application of 120 kg N -1 recorded the maximum plant height (165.28 cm), number of cobs per plant (1.49), cob length (17.87 cm), cob girth (15.05 cm), dry matter accumulation (153.09 g plant -1), number of grains per cob (283.19), 100 grain weight (26.70 g), grain yield (4905 kg -1), stover yield (8478 kg ha-1), biological yield (13382 kg ha-1), net return (39228 ha-1) and BCR (3.14) Application of 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 recorded the maximum plant height (159.16 cm), number of cobs per plant (1.47), cob length (17.58 cm), cob girth (14.99 cm), dry matter accumulation (146.52 g plant-1), number of grains per cob (275.74), 100 grain weight (25.27 g), grain yield (4987 kg -1), stover yield (8281 kg ha-1), biological yield (13268 kg ha-1), net return (38967 Rs ha-1) and BCR (3.03) Introduction Maize (Zea mays L.) ranks third in total world production after wheat and rice and it is principal staple food in many countries, particularly in the tropics and subtropics Maize is considered as the “Queen of Cereals” Being a C4 plant, it is capable to utilize solar radiation more efficiently even at higher radiation intensity Maize assumes a special significance in Indian agriculture on account of its utilization as food, feed and fodder besides several industrial uses Among different nutrients, nitrogen is the most commonly deficient nutrient in the soil and gives considerable response in maize crop It has the quickest and the most pronounced effect on plant growth and development and ultimately on crop yield Nitrogen is essential constituent of protein and is present in many other compounds of physiological importance in plant metabolism such as nucleotide, phosphatides, alkaloids, enzymes, hormones and vitamins etc It has best physiological efficiency thus N will help in boosting higher yield Phosphorus nutrition plays a key role in 1945 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(3): xx-xx plant metabolism It is most essential for all living creatures for their growth and development Being involved in various biochemical processes, it ensures transfer and storage of energy as ADP and ATP, permits conversion and transmission of genetic characters, as it is a constituent of RNA and DNA Therefore, the present study was carried out to find out the effect of N and P dosage on kharif maize applied as pre-emergence to control the weeds in early stages of the crop Fully mature and develop cobs from randomly selected five plants from each plot were plucked and number of seeds were counted The average number of cobs and seeds per plants was worked out After threshing and winnowing the weight of seeds and also stover for each net plot area was recorded in kg per plot and then converted to kg ha-1 Materials and Methods Results and Discussion A field experiment was conducted during kharif season of 2012 at Instructional Farm, Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh situated at South Saurashtra agroclimatic zone – VII at latitude of 21.51' N ,longitude of 70.49' E and altitude 61.0 m above mean sea level The soil was medium black, alkaline in reaction (pH 8.0), medium in organic carbon (0.54%), low in available nitrogen (238.0 kg ha-1), medium in available phosphorus (27.50 kg P2O5 ha-1) and potassium (236.0 kg K2O ha-1) content The experiment comprising twelve treatment combinations consisting four levels of nitrogen viz., 60, 80, 100 and 120 kg N ha-1 and three levels of phosphorus viz., 40, 50 and 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 were tested in a factorial randomized block design with three replications Fertilizers were applied as per treatment through single super phosphate (SSP) and urea at the time of sowing as basal dose The rainfall during kharif 2012 was 425.0 mm in 25 rainy days.The maize cv „GM-6‟ was sown on 18 July, 2012 using seed rate of 20 kg ha-1 with a row spacing of 45 cm and harvested on October, 2012 Four irrigations were applied during growing season Intercultural operations viz., thinning, hoeing and weeding were followed after 20 days of sowing to maintain recommended spacing and weed control For weed management atrazine @ 0.5 kg ha-1 was Effect of nitrogen Growth parameters, yield attributes and yield of maize viz., plant height, number of cobs per plant, cob length, cob girth, dry matter accumulation, number of grains per cob, 100 grain weight, grain yield, stover yield, biological yield, net return and BCR were significantly influenced by nitrogen application and its levels (Table 4.1 and 4.2) Significantly, the highest values of these growth parameters, yield attribute and yield parameters were observed with application of 120 kg N ha-1 and the lowest values were recorded under 60 kg N ha-1 The increase in these components seems to have been brought about by increase in amount of growth and yield attributes substances and naturally occurring phytohormones with an increased nitrogen supply to the plant Probably the increase in auxin supply with higher levels of nitrogen brought about increase in the dry matter and enhances the plant growth This improvement might be due to an early and plentiful availability of nitrogen leading to better nutritional environment in the root zone for growth and development As nitrogen is one of the major essential plant nutrients required for growth Therefore, increased availability of nitrogen might have increased cell number and cell size leading to better growth in terms of plant growth Nitrogen is an element of chlorophyll; it harnesses solar 1946 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(3): xx-xx energy and fixes atmospheric CO2 as carbohydrates and amino acids Thus, nitrogen application increased dry matter production The increased supply of nitrogen and their higher uptake by plants might have stimulated the rate of various physiological processes in plant and leads to increased growth parameters, yield attribute and yield The enhanced growth with nitrogen was also reported by Sofi et al., (2004), Yadav and Pandey (2005), Chillar and Kumar (2006), Kar et al., (2006), Patel et al., (2006), Bindhani et al., (2007), Sahoo and Mahapatra (2007) Table.1 Effect of nitrogen and phosphorus levels on growth parameters of maize Treatment Plant height (cm) Nitrogen (kg N ha-1) 128.04 N1 – 60 141.30 N2 – 80 157.65 N3 – 100 165.28 N4 – 120 3.45 S.Em ± 10.13 CD (P = 0.05) Phosphorus (kg P2O5 ha-1) 137.38 P1 – 40 147.67 P2 – 50 159.16 P3 – 60 2.99 S.Em ± 8.78 CD (P = 0.05) Number of cobs per plant Cob length (cm) Cob girth (cm) Dry matter (g plant-1) 1.19 1.32 1.40 1.49 0.04 0.10 14.56 15.85 17.22 17.87 0.39 1.16 12.41 13.40 14.43 15.05 0.32 0.95 129.83 140.83 149.92 153.09 3.58 10.51 1.21 1.37 1.47 0.03 0.09 15.08 16.47 17.58 0.34 1.00 12.55 13.93 14.99 0.28 0.82 137.62 146.11 146.52 3.10 NS Table.2 Effect of nitrogen and phosphorus levels on growth parameters, yield attribute, yield and economics of maize Treatment Number of grains per cob Nitrogen (kg N ha-1) 226.70 N1 – 60 250.97 N2 – 80 274.62 N3 – 100 283.19 N4 – 120 4.61 S.Em ± 13.53 CD (P = 0.05) Phosphorus (kg P2O5 ha-1) 241.41 P1 – 40 259.46 P2 – 50 275.74 P3 – 60 4.00 S.Em ± 11.72 CD (P = 0.05) 100 grain weight (g) Grain yield (kg ha-1) Stover yield (kg ha-1) Biological yield (kg ha-1) Net realization ( ha-1) BCR 19.81 21.86 25.92 26.70 0.62 1.81 4243 4691 4820 4905 132 387 6096 7016 8034 8478 251 736 10338 11707 12855 13382 268 785 31006 36148 38192 39228 - 2.76 3.03 3.11 3.14 - 21.89 23.56 25.27 0.54 1.57 4343 4664 4987 114 335 6447 7489 8281 217 638 10790 12153 13268 232 680 31512 35361 38967 - 2.71 2.88 3.03 - 1947 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(3): xx-xx Effect of phosphorus Growth parameters, yield attribute and yield of maize viz., plant height, number of cobs per plant, cob length, cob girth, number of grains per cob, 100 grain weight, grain yield, stover yield, biological yield, net return and BCR were significantly influenced by phosphorus application and its levels (Table 4.1 and 4.2) Significantly the highest values of these growth parameters, yield attribute and yield parameters were observed with application of 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 which the lowest values were recorded under 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 The improvement in growth parameters with application of 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 might have resulted in better and timely availability of P for their utilization by plant (Table 4.1 and 4.2) Phosphorus fertilization improves the various metabolic and physiological processes and thus known as “energy currency” which is subsequently used for vegetative and reproductive growth through photophosphorylation In addition to vital metabolic role, P is an important structural component of nucleic acid, phytein, phospholipids and enzymes An adequate supply of phosphorus early in the life cycle of plant is important in laying down the primordia of its reproductive part It also increases the initiation of both first and second order rootlets and their development The extensive root system helps in exploiting the maximum nutrients and water from the soil Under the present investigation, profound influence of P, a component of fertility management, on crop growth seem to be due to maintaining congenial nutritional environment of plant system on account of their greater availability from soil media The significant improvement in nutrient status of plant parts (stover) might have resulted in greater synthesis of amino acids, proteins and growth promoting substances, which seems to have enhanced the meristematic activity and increased cell division and their elongation The enhanced growth with phosphorus was also reported by Patel et al., (2000), Arya and Singh (2001), Mehta (2002), Sahoo and Panda (2001) and Mehta et al., (2005) On the basis of one year field experimentation, it seems quite logical to conclude that maximum production and net returns from kharif maize by the application of nitrogen and phosphorus @ 120 and 60 kg ha-1 on calcareous soil under South Saurashtra agro-climatic Zone References Arya, K.C and Singh, S.N 2001 Effect of different levels of phosphorus and zinc on yield and nutrients uptake of maize (Zea mays L.) with and without irrigation Indian J Agri Sci., 71: 5759 Bindhani, A., Barik, K.C., Garnayak, L.M and Mahapatra, P.K 2007 Nitrogen management in baby corn (Zea mays) Indian J Agron., 52: 135- 138 Chillar, R.K and Kumar, A 2006 Growth and yield behaviour of sweet corn (Zea mays L saccharata) under varying plant population and nitrogen level In: Extended Summaries of Golden Jubilee National Symposium on Conservation Agriculture and Environment held during 26-28 October, 2006 at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, pp 277278 Kar, P.P., Barik, K.C., Mahapatra, P.K., Garnayak, L.M., Rath, B.S., Bastia, D.K and 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Indian J Agri Sci., 71(1): 2122 Sofi, K.A., Sharma, D.P and Thomas, T 2004 Effect of nitrogen and potassium nutrition on yield, nutrient uptake and soil fertility of maize (Zea mays) under rainfed condition of Uttar Pradesh Environ Ecol., 22(spl-3): 483-485 Yadav, R.S and Pandey, S.M 2005 Relative performance of QPM full season at Bahraich 48th Annual Progress Report, AICMIP, Directorate of Maize Research, New Delhi, A-44 How to cite this article: Pal, B., D.S Hirpara, V.D Vora, P.D Vekaria, G.S Sutaria, K.N Akbari and H.P Verma 2017 Effect of Nitrogen and Phosphorus on Yield and Yield Attributes of Maize in South Saurashtra Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci 6(3): 1945-1949 doi: https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.603.221 1949 ... D.K and Khanda, C.M 2006 Effect of planting geometry and nitrogen on yield, economics and nitrogen uptake of sweet corn (Zea mays) Indian J Agron., 51: 43-45 Mehta, Y.K 2002 Effect of sulphur, phosphorus. .. present investigation, profound influence of P, a component of fertility management, on crop growth seem to be due to maintaining congenial nutritional environment of plant system on account of their... growing season Intercultural operations viz., thinning, hoeing and weeding were followed after 20 days of sowing to maintain recommended spacing and weed control For weed management atrazine